Photographer Jumps Fence, Snaps Crime Scene

Everyone is outraged over the Jaycee Dugard case and rightly so. It’s hard to fathom a more awful or bizarre scenario, and it’s been said it’s one of the worst kidnapping cases in American criminal history. Predictably, there has been much media interest. The New York Times reports today that freelance photographer Nick Stern jumped the fence of alleged maniac Phillip Garrido’s property on Friday, and, while trespassing, shot more than 40 photographs of the squalor the woman and her daughters lived in. The photos appeared in the Times of London and the New York Post, among other places.

While the article quotes a sheriff’s office spokesperson as being not too happy about the photos (which is odd since a quick perusal of the web shows a few different media outlets or agencies have had access), the paper had this to say about Stern:

Mr. Stern, a freelance photographer based in Los Angeles, said he had not seen any police officers and did not consider the lot — which was surrounded by a fence and dotted with trees — a crime scene.

I guess you have to admire the gumption of Stern, who saw a golden opportunity and seized it.